At the end of last year, we gave you a little teaser for the East Lothian Reads campaign. Now it’s getting underway, we want everyone in our communities to be talking about what they’re reading.
Whether it’s scrolling social media, checking the football scores, following a recipe or getting lost in a good book, there’s a reader in all of us.
Throughout 2026, the library service will be working with schools, groups and organisations to help as many people as possible find out more about what they love through reading. We’ll be looking to involve community members (readers and non-readers) in choosing the books we buy for our libraries and organising events to celebrate reading in all forms.
Councillor Colin McGinn, Cabinet Spokesperson for Community Wellbeing and Sport, Countryside and Leisure, said: “We have had a great response so far from community groups wanting to take part in East Lothian Reads and individuals wanting to come on board as ambassadors for the project so there will be much more to come throughout the year.”
Across the year you’ll also find three special collections of books available to borrow in each of our libraries. The first collection was chosen by our school librarians, public library staff and our social media followers and brings together classics, new titles and recommendations around the theme of Scotland. These will be available to borrow from early February. We’d love to know what you think of our choices so please join in the conversation on social media using the hashtag #EastLothianReads
The collection includes a mix of genres from classics like Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s Sunset Song; to Irvine Welsh’s follow-up to Trainspotting, Men in Love; a DCI Karen Pirie novel from Val McDermid and non-fiction titles to get the tastebuds tingling like The Scottish Food Bible by Claire MacDonald and the Scottish Soup Bible by Sue Lawrence. There are history books, fantasy novels, children’s books and much more to explore.
Visit the libraries page on the council website and follow East Lothian Libraries on social media to keep up to date with the latest activities, events and news about East Lothian Reads throughout the year.
Our next collection will appear in early summer and will involve community members and partner organisations in the selection panel.
It's free to join your local library, in person or online using our eBooks and eAudiobooks (listening is reading too!). There are no overdue charges if life gets in the way and it takes a bit longer to return your books than you originally planned so if it’s been a while since you’ve visited one of our libraries, why not drop in and see what’s changed?
There are so many benefits to reading for pleasure. Lots of studies have shown that it not only helps our young people with their learning and attainment, it can also reduce stress levels for people of all ages. Compared to non-readers, regular readers are 86% more likely to report feeling a sense of belonging to their community, 58% are more likely to report feeling generally happy, 51% are more likely to report finding it easy to relax and 45% are more likely to report sleeping well. They are also 35% more likely to say they don’t feel lonely and 32% more likely say they don’t feel anxious or depressed.
This Project is supported by the Scottish Government Public Library Improvement Fund.